All over the planet on Friday, millions of children and young adults walked out of their classrooms in an unprecedented collective action to demand a radical and urgent shift in society’s energy and economic systems in order to avert the worst impacts of human-caused global warming and climate change.

With demonstrations in more than 100 countries and tens of thousands of schools, the worldwide Climate Strike is the largest since 16-year-old Greta Thunberg sparked a wave of increasingly huge marches and walkouts with her one-person strike outside the Swedish Parliament last year. 

Since then, Thunberg has admonished and appealed to world leaders at COP24 and Davos, successfully securing a commitment from the European Union to fight the climate crisis while inspiring strikes all over the world. European students began holding weekly walkouts in Brussels in December, while Australian, and German young people are among those who have organized strikes as well.

“We have been born into this world and we have to live with this crisis, and our children and our grandchildren,” Thunberg told a crowd of her peers in Stockholm in Friday. “We are facing the greatest existential crisis humanity has ever faced. And yet it has been ignored. You who have ignored it know who you are.”

#FridaysForFuture #climatestrike #schoolstrike4climate @vanessadantes1 pic.twitter.com/VcnUsAuOca

— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) March 15, 2019

LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE MARCH IN BRUSSELS!!! Young people are rising in 2052 places in 123 countries on every continents.

There is no time to waste. We must #ActOnClimate. #climatestrike #klimaatstaking #FridayForFutures #GreenNewDeal @GretaThunberg 🎬 via @JohnHyphen pic.twitter.com/3CGLMDYE8v

— Mike Hudema (@MikeHudema) March 15, 2019

Our house is on fire.🔥🌍🔥 #Brussels #ClimateStrike today is bigger than ever before, loud & colorful. 🎨👪🎵🎶☔🌈 Politicians, do you hear us at last? When will you start to listen to #science & #students & #ActOnClimate? #FridaysForFuture #SchoolsStrike4Climate @GretaThunberg pic.twitter.com/6BG677gFPI

— Maria Green (@MariaHennaG) March 15, 2019

Sign in St. Paul Minnesota:
"If you don't act like adults, we will."#climatestrike #FridaysForFuture pic.twitter.com/xUMrJjGz0H

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) March 15, 2019

Officially more than 150,000 students on #ClimateStrike in Montreal, the number just came in!! #FridaysForFuture #schoolstrike4climate #YouthStrike4Climate pic.twitter.com/1lYS7iHjMr

— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) March 15, 2019

Oh boy, look what happened in Lisbon, Portugal.#FridaysForFuture #ClimateStrike pic.twitter.com/K1Ew1Zg4ey

— Angela Fay (@lifelearner47) March 15, 2019

Beautiful scenes in NYC where thousands of students have gathered at Central Park for the #ClimateStrike. Huge cheers every time a new school joins in. pic.twitter.com/aDp2MujsRj

— Lucky Tran (@luckytran) March 15, 2019

In Kyiv, Ukraine, 100+ students appealed to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman and the govt to recognize climate change as one of the most pressing nationwide problems and to take appropriate action. #Climatestrike took place in six cities in Ukraine.
Photos: Olena Angelova pic.twitter.com/idIgr8rXvx

— 350 dot org (@350) March 15, 2019

HUGE! crowd out in #Barcelona as far as the eye can see. Young people are rising in 2052 places in 123 countries on every continents.

There is no time to waste. We must #ActOnClimate. #climatestrike #klimaatstaking #FridayForFutures #GreenNewDeal @GretaThunberg 🎬 @luckytran pic.twitter.com/IvzMZPwsBr

— Mike Hudema (@MikeHudema) March 15, 2019

Mientras algunos discuten por control de identidad a menores, #AdmisiónJusta u otras pequeñeces, los jóvenes solo piden tener un futuro para vivir ¿Se lo daremos? @sebastianpinera @MMAChile @CarolaSchmidtZ #FridaysForFuture #Santiago #climatechange pic.twitter.com/ApMMphupz0

— Mauro Astete (@MauroAstete) March 15, 2019

We are thousands of people in #Paris for the global strike for climate ! #Youth4Climate #FridayForFuture @GretaThunberg @FYEG @YouthFrance pic.twitter.com/Nqxgd9Q7yA

— Antoine Tifine (@AntoineTifine) March 15, 2019

#climatestrike #fridaysforfuture #Bangladesh #barishal pic.twitter.com/PFueHBjJoz

— munware alam nirjhor (@munwarenj) March 15, 2019

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